Editor: You say you can’t fault OSU for “trying to control the secondary market” (Mailbox, last Sunday). Ironically, by trying to partly control it, their policy may serve to give the secondary market a boost.

I became a season-ticket holder in 1995 primarily to ensure I had tickets to the Notre Dame game. The logic still holds — last year I overpaid for UAB tickets I literally couldn’t give away to ensure I would have tickets for the Michigan game.

At some point, if I have to pay $175 for the Michigan game as part of a season that includes the likes of Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A&M and Indiana at $79 apiece, I may conclude that I’d be better off not making my donation to the university for those crappy games, and put all that cash toward the Michigan game in the secondary market.

Dr. Gee and his yes men won’t see a penny of what I pay for those Michigan tickets — the guy who paid $175 for them and wasn’t enough of a fan to attend the game will get it all.

My wife and I have three OSU degrees between us, my father was a professor there for 35 years, and I have two sons currently enrolled, but everything OSU does these days seems to be less about how firm is thy friendship and more about how green is thy cash. It’s getting old very quickly.

— Carl Coles, Dublin

Carl: Your point about the secondary market is a valid one, especially if we’re looking at a run of seasons when there is very little meat on the bone, such as 2013. Of course, I’m willing to take the Pollyanna position that the nonconference schedule becomes more robust when the playoff system arrives, finally, in 2014.

Editor: To extend Daniel Connor’s “logic” regarding a public/parochial split (Mailbox, last Sunday), one could ask: Why even have divisions in high schools based upon enrollment? Just let the Division I schools play the Division IV schools to give “all the kids the opportunity to be the best.”

Of course, it is done to create a level playing field and to compete against like schools. The numbers — since 2000, parochial schools, representing 17 percent of OHSAA membership, have won more than 50 percent of the state championships — clearly indicate a playing field that is far from level.

Perhaps it makes sense not to think of it as parochial versus public, but rather as schools with and without geographical enrollment boundaries. For example, Columbus public schools have the same geographic enrollment advantage of a parochial school and should be grouped accordingly.

All schools could play for a state championship against similarly sized and geographically positioned schools. Then, once you have crowned champions in each division, you can have a “tournament of champions” (and generate more revenue) to see who really is the best of the best.

— Gregory S. Sullivan, Westerville

Gregory: I’m not so sure a “tournament of champions” would fly. This whole idea is about getting away from state-level competition between public and private schools. If, by chance, parochials won every “tournament of champions” matchup in football, we’d need all new rules.

Ray: After graduating from Ohio State, my wife and I moved to Houston, and upon arriving we were stunned to learn two things: The first was that as late as 1980 there were no open-container laws in Texas; in essence, you could drink and drive as long as you weren’t drunk.

The second was that Texas has separate football championships for public and private schools, and it had been that way for years. The sky didn’t fall, the earth didn’t open up and the people were happy.

You see, in Texas they realize that schools are different sizes, with different admission standards and different transfer policies. Texas awards 15 football championships based on school size and type of play.

And the student-athletes who win the Texas Division II six-man state championship are, in fact, champions. They are not considered second-rate athletes, no matter what Daniel Connor thinks.

— Bryan Willford, Columbus

Bryan: It’s all what you’re accustomed to, I suppose. If Texas suddenly changed now, I suspect that wouldn’t go down so easy, either. And the flip side of that argument is that I’m not altogether certain Texas has hotbeds of parochial athletic powerhouses the way Cleveland and Cincinnati do, perhaps because of the separation.

Ray: I’ve been watching pro football for more than 50 years. Last Sunday’s Super Bowl was the first game I’ve ever seen without a holding penalty.

I know the NFL doesn’t want officials to be the focus of the game, but officials who are disengaged from the game are just as harmful. Several obvious non-calls in critical situations skewed the final result.

With such officiating, the Super Bowl is no different than the Pro Bowl.

— Richard M. Dennis, Blacklick

Richard: Now that, sir, is an insult. But you’re right about the occasionally bizarre officiating contributing to the game’s weirdness.